Dozens of firefighters spent nearly 24 hours battling a blaze that engulfed a large swathe of trees and scrubland in the New Forest. The alarm was raised shortly after 2.30pm on Saturday as flames covered an area of approximately 30 metres by 80 metres near Hale Purlieu. “Firefighters have worked extremely hard throughout the incident, tackling the fire in arduous and challenging conditions,” a fire service spokesperson said. (Picture: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service)National Grid was expected to carry out regular fire patrols of the area. Returning to the scene yesterday evening, firefighters carried out a further inspection and damped down a small number of remaining hotspots.